Good Deeds and Viruses
by N. Forest
Summary: A virus is going around Hogwarts. Hermione gets sick and in order to prevent her from catching the virus that her weakened immune system couldn't handle Professor Snape goes into quarantine with her. But he's already been exposed to the virus.


Good Deeds and Viruses

Hermione Granger took her sweet time getting up the first morning. Yesterday had been the last day of exams and there was no reason why she couldn't sleep all day if she wanted. And right now her sore throat and pounding head were trying to convince her that all she wanted to do was go back to sleep.

"Hermione." Lavender's annoying, high pitched voice cut in through her fuzzy, sluggish brain. She rested her icy hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Harry and Ron need to talk to you. They said it's important."

Hermione sat up in bed with a groan. "Tell them I be right down." She stiffly got out of bed, put on her slippers and shuffled down the staircase to the Gryffindor common room.

"Ready for some lunch?" Ron asked. He didn't seem to notice anything amiss and swung his arm around her shoulder. "You sure slept in. And that never happens."

Harry laughed. "You were reading. Right?"

Hermione coughed loudly into her arm and regretted her action immediately. Her throat and chest felt as if someone had stuck a red-hot piece of metal down it. "No. Sleeping." She managed to rasp out.

"Wait." Ron pulled away from her hurriedly. "You're not sick. Are you?"

Hermione coughed again. "Just a cough. I'll be fine tomorrow. Just need to unwind from exams."

"Are you sure Hermione?" Percy Weasley came up behind her. She spun to face him. "There's a nasty virus going around." He puffed out his chest so they could see his shiny prefect badge. "The Headmaster told all the prefects to be on the look out."

"Yeah. And it's highly contagious." Harry put in. "You really ought to go see Madame Pomfrey."

Hermione waved them off. "I'll be fine tomorrow. I haven't got this virus you're talking about."

Percy gave her one last long look. "Make sure you go to the hospital wing if you need anything. Don't wait until the last minute." He warned her.

"Sure." Hermione turned to head back up to the girls dormitory. "Be right back." she took the stairs double time. By the time she reached her bed she was shivering despite running and the warmth of the summer day. Underneath her robes she pulled on a thick woollen sweater and tights.

After dressing she joined the boys in the common room and headed out to the lake. The sparkling water and a blanket in the shade bettered her mood and her health. By dinner time she felt almost normal. But her head was still tender to loud noise and once in a while she felt the need to cough.

That night the entire house was woken up by Professor McGonagall. Madame Pomfrey had taken those sick with the virus to St. Mungo's. Anyone who thought they might be infected had to seek help immediately. And Professor Snape was now in charge of the infirmary.

Hermione saw Ron and Harry shoot her looks through the crowd of sleepy Gryffindors. She sent them back a look of her own. She wasn't sick and she wasn't going to see Snape, no matter how bad she felt!

"That will be all. Go back to bed." The Professor headed back out through the portrait hole.

Hermione slept in really late the next morning. Later than she'd ever slept in. And it didn't do any good. She felt worse than she'd been yesterday.

"Finally decided to wake up?" A male voice asked.

Hermione jumped up. And immediate wished she hadn't. She didn't even now that a headache could be this bad.

"When?" She managed to rasp out before descending into a coughing fit so violent it shook her entire body.

"Hey Hermione it's just me." Harry walked in front of her.

She peered at him through her tired eyes. "Why?"

Harry ignored her second question. "You're in the Gryffindor common room. There's only twenty or so of us left so we decided to camp out together. The virus is really contagious."

Hermione had managed to stop coughing by now. But all that existed of her voice was a whisper. "And I don't have it. Right?"

Harry shrugged. "You were still in the dorm last time Snape came through so he didn't check you. Everyone's a suspected carrier and most of the students already left to St. Mungo's or went home."

Hermione considered this. _Well they won't send me home because I've got a muggle family and I really don't want to end up in the hospital._ "What's the virus like Harry?" She asked. _Maybe if I know the symptoms I can figure out if I've got it._

"Ah, well. You cough, are really tired and..." He thought hard. "I can't remember! Snape just told us a bunch of stuff and then told us to go to the hospital wing if we felt sick or ask him to come check on us here."

"I did." Snape's silky, sarcastic voice came from behind Harry. Hermione could see his head over the back of the couch. "And you've broken the guidelines set out for your safety why?" He asked, his voice growing dangerous near the end.

Harry swallowed nervously. "Uh. Well Hermione wasn't really sick." He could see that this was not going to get him anywhere. "She said she'd be fine today!"

"And are you?" Snape asked her. "Are you as fine as Mr. Potter claims?"

Hermione slowly and miserably shook her head. "No sir."

"Imagine that." Snape drawled. "Potter's made a mistake. Yet another that could result in the death of one if his friends." He turned on the boy. "Really Potter, you're not going to have any friends left at the rate you're going through them."

Harry growled under his breath.

Snape turned back to Hermione and pointed his wand. He cast a series of diagnostic charms. Then he re-cast them.

"Is something wrong Professor?" Hermione asked. All she wanted was to go back to sleep.

"It seems, Miss Granger that you do not have the virus."

"Then what is wrong with her?" Harry demanded.

Snape ignored him. "When did you start feeling sick?"

Hermione thought back. She didn't remember feeling ill during exams. "The day exams ended sir."

"I thought so." Snape murmured, more to himself than the Gryffindors as he ran his wand over her again. "Why didn't you go and see Madame Pomfrey immediately?" He asked her sharply.

Hermione flinched at his harsh tone. It hurt her already aching head. "I thought it would go away on its own."

"Or it could have worsened." Snape reminded her. "Which is what happened. Your cold has turned into pneumonia and you've got infections in your ears and left eye."

"Oh."

Snape scowled at her. "You're very lucky you haven't caught the virus yet. If you had it nothing else could be treated and you;d have to wait it out."

"Will she be al-right?" Harry asked.

Snape sent him a killer glare. "Eventually." He ran his wand over Harry's torso. "You on the other hand have the virus."

Harry sighed. He was feeling a bit fuzzy and he'd already argued with Snape enough for the day. "I'll go to the hospital wing sir. Bye Hermione." He climbed out of the potriat hole.

Once Harry had left Professor Snape conjured a stretcher and gently levitated Hermione onto it. "I'm going to put us in quarantine Miss Granger."

Hermione nodded. "You don't want me to be exposed to the virus. Because I'm already sick and it would just make it harder to recover from."

Snape didn't answer, so Hermione assumed she was right. He guided the stretcher through the empty halls of the school down to the dungeon. At the first staircase down he paused and sent a patrounus to Dumbledore and another to Pomfrey explaining what was going on.

Hermione woke up a few hours later. _Must have fallen asleep on the way down. _She thought. For she didn't recognize her surroundings. The walls were stone, like the walls in the dungeons and she thought she could smell a potions lab. But beyond that there was no familiarity.

The wooden bed she lay on was nothing like she;d ever seen before. It was raised high off the ground and reminded her a little of the captain's bed she'd had when she was five.

"You're awake. How do you feel?" Professor Snape was standing in the doorway, blocking the only source of light into the room. He flicked is wand and the lamp beside her bed began to glow brightly, along with a light on the ceiling.

"Better." Hermione mumbled. Her throat was still sore. But it was feeling a little better and she no longer had a compulsive need to cough.

Snape walked up to the bed. "Are you sure? The reason you've gotten this sick is because you waited so long to get help." He ran his wand up and down her body as he cast his diagnostic charms.

"Yes sir." Hermione wiggled under the blankets until she could come to a half sitting position. "Where is this?"

"My quarters. The guest room. You slept for two days since I brought you down here." He lit a candle and moved over to the wall that was still hidden in shadows. "Most of the school has left for St. Mungo's or one of the satellite clinics."

"Oh." Hermione pondered her thoughts for a few moments. Wondering if she actually wanted the answers to her questions. "Have they found a cure yet? Is everyone alright?" Harry and Ron were the two she was actually concerned about.

Snape frowned as he turned to face her, pausing in his rummaging in the shelves of potions. "There will be no cure. You cannot cure a virus. However, the Healers have almost found what they believe is the correct potion to make the virus dorment. And on the last update I was informed that everyone was starting to do slightly better. It doesn't appear to be fatal."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. "So how much longer will we have to stay in qurartine?"

Snape bansihed the small candle in his hand and summoned a kit with another wave of his rwand.

"What's that?" Hermione asked, her ever inquisitve mind wondering and wandering again. "It looks like a potions kit."

The Professor glared at her. "And of course as a know-it-all you wouldn't expect a Potions Master to have a potions kit." He placed everything he'd been carrying onto the bedside table. "This is a healing kit. Useful for Quidditch matches and heads of violent, oucast houses."

_Because Slytherins get picked on. And they're violent Quidditch players._ Hermione thought. It made perfect sense. _And Potion Masters are basic healers. Why didn't I realize this before​?_

While Hermione was thinking and analzying Professor Snape measured doses of potions and assembled the supplies he'd need for the rest of the diagnostic. He picked up a fever thermometer and ordered her "Open up."

Hermione opened her mouth obenidently. Her headache was pounding again and she wanted to go back to sleep.

As they waited for the reading Snape cast yet another diagnostic. This one focused on her lungs and told him that she'd need more potions for the pneumonia in addition to headache relieving and flu begone potions.

The thermometer beeped and he took it from her. A quick glance at the display let him know that she still had a fever and he wandlessly summoned a fever reducer to the guest room.

"Drink these." He ordered her while handing over potion after to potion.

For a moment Hermione considered refusing. There were so many potions to take, she was tired and they all tasted so bad! _I know the textbook says that efficancy over taste is crucial, but why does it have to taste so bad!_ All thoughts of anything save compliance were driven from her mind when she saw Professor Snape glaring at her.

She drank down the last potion and laid back onto the bed. Hermione's head was now floating somewhere far away and she was almost asleep. Her head didn't hurt, neither did her throat or chest. Even her fever seemed to have disappeared.

"Thank you sir." She murmured into her pillow.

She could have sworn that Snape muttered "You're welcome."

The next week past quickly. Hermione slept most of the time. Snape woke her occasionally to give her potions and help her to the bathroom. Usually he simply spelled the potions into her stomach and used nutrient potions and releaving charms to care for her.

On the ninth day in the dungeons Hermione woke up feeling perfect. She got out of bed quickly and crept out of the guest room.

The hall outside was quiet and empty. The small lights at each doorway made the entire area feel like an alley. The doors were all closed tightly and Hermione didn't open any of them. She followed the hallway to the end where it opened up into a living room with the door back out into the rest of the school.

Professor Snape lay slumbering on the couch in the centre of the room.

"Sir?" Hermione asked as she timidly walked forward. "Professor Snape?"

The man stirred for a moment.

"Professor?" Hermione called, slightly louder this time.

Severus Snape turned toward her suddenly. His eyes were glassy and his long hair stuck to his face with sweat. He moaned quietly, grabbing at his head.

"Are you sick sir?" Hermione moved closer to the couch. "I'm calling Madame Pomfrey."

Snape turned into the couch and went back to sleep.

Hermione took a small amount of floo powder from the box on the mantel and tossed some into the fire before kneeling down and calling "Hospital wing!"

"How is it?" An exhusted Madame Pomfrey came into view. "Oh, Miss Granger. How are feeling?"

"Fine now. But I think Professor Snape's sick." She explained what she'd seen in the living room.

Madame Pomfrey sighed. "Rats! We've got a cure for the virus now. St. Mungo's is brewing it as quickly as possible. I really could have used his brewing skills." She walked to a cabinet and removed a few potions. "Give these to him and see if he imporves. I'll send down a dose of the cure as soon as we get the next batch." She promised.

Hermione took the potions and pulled back out of the fire place. Snape was still on the couch. She approched and gave him a light shake. "Wake up Sir."

The Professor jumped up quickly, his hand going to his wand. He starred intensly at her. "What is it Miss Granger?"

Hermione held out the first potion. Labeled 'Virus Diagnostic'. "You need to take this sir."

He drank the potion quickly, a soft red light flashed around his body, meaing that he was indeed suffering from the virus. Hermione handed him the rest and he emptied them all.

"Professor can I get you anything?" Hermione asked.

Snape shook his head and slowly climbed off the couch heading down the hall. Hermione hurried after him quickly. He stopped in front of the first door and lay down on top of his own bed. Seconds later he was once again sleeping.

Hermione watched over the sleeping man. His breathing had evened out and he'd stopped sweating. She walked back to the living room, picked up the other potion bottles and carried them into the Professor's room, placing them on a small table. After this sudden burst of energy Hermione found herself exghusted. _I only recovered this morning._ She reminded herself as she made her way to bed.

She slept in the next morning. The clock in the living room read 10 after 11 and she was still yawning. The door to Professor Snape's bedroom was still open and she glanced in. He lay curled in ball facing the wall. None of the potion vials had been touched.

Cautiously, as if she was invading his space Hermione crept into the room. "Wake up Professor!" She called to him.

Severus stirred, opening his eyes and yawning. His eyes sent on Hermione and for amoment he was confused. _What's a student doing in MY private quarters? Get out! _But he saw the potions on his night table and remembered the events of the previous day.

"Hem hem." He cleared his throat. "Good morning Miss Granger." He pulled himself up into a sitting position and motioned to the bottles. "What am I suppose to take this morning?"

Hermione looked at the different potions before turning back to him. "I..." But she was cut off before she could finish the sentence.

"Good morning Severus and Miss Granger!" A happy and energized Poppy Pomfrey stepped through the bedroom door.

"Finally got the virus under control?" Snape croaked out, ending with a harsh coughing fit.

"Finally. And no permanent damage." Poppy told him. She drew two vials out of her pocket. "You need to take this one. It will stop you from getting sick." she told Hermione was she handed her the clear potion.

Hermione drank the preemptive medication and found that to her relief it was tasteless.

"And for you Severus." Poppy handed him the second vial. This one was not clear, but filled with a thick, glowing, purple goo. "Take it."

Snape took the vial in his hand and popped the lid off. He glared at Pomfrey when the nasty smell of burnt leather and vingear hit his nostails. Despite being a Potions Master he'd never adjusted to drinking foul tasteing brew.

"Miss Granger, could you please excuse us for a moment? Go get dressed." Madame Pomfrey ordered the girl.

Hermione didn't want to see a fight between the medi-witch and Professor Snape and fled from the room as quickly as she could.

"Now just drink it." Poppy ordered Serverus. "Take it and you won't be sick. It's an instant cure."

Snape sighed. "Why does it always come to potions?" He complained, acting like a young child. "Fine." He drained the vial shuddering as the potion hit his taste buds. "Ugh!"

"It's over." Pomfrey reminded him. "Have some water." She ordered him as she filled a conjured glass.

Severus gulped the water down gratefully. It tasted wonderful after the potion.

"Good bye." Poppy walked out of his bedroom. "Oh wait. You're out of qurantine now and Miss Granger cn return to Gryffindor tower."

Professor Snape heard the roar of the floo and got out of bed. The cure had already worked and he felt great. He slipped into clean teaching robes and left his room to locate his student.

Hermione pulled on clean clothes and gathered up the small bag of belongings that had piled up on the floor and under the high bed. After doing so, she made her way back to the living room to find the Professor waiting there for her.

"I trust you have recovered completely Miss Granger?" He asked her, his glare sent the message that she had better not lie to him.

Hermione gulped. "Yes sir. I feel fine."

Something that almost resembled a smile crossed the Potion Master's face. "Very well. Have a good summer Miss Granger. Don't leave your assignments until the last minute."

Hermione could've sworn that the man had been joking when he reminded her of homework. After all she always had the longest, most thourgh assignments. "Yes sir. Have a good summer sir." She darted out the door when he opened it and made her way back to the dormitory.

Snape smiled after her.


End file.
